Strasbourg, 16/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - “At this difficult time, it is normal for us Palestinians to look towards Europe. We call for Europe to take on a vanguard role”, to which Palestine would be linked as a “good historic neighbourhood”, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, told the European Parliament on 15 May. He received a warm welcome from MEPs who stood up in long and vigorous applause. In order to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there must be a “partnership” at the base with “understanding of the other”, whereas Israel refuses this partnership, Mr Abbas told MEPs. He mainly slammed the repopulation colonies, the building of the dividing wall, and the situation in the prisons. He spoke of the “systematic humiliation of people who simply want to go back to their fields, to work, to go to hospital or to the mosque or accompany their children to school”, and the destruction by Israelis of the “infrastructures that your countries have helped to build”. Despite “our great disappointment and frustration”, he added, “we have rejected terrorism in all its forms” but “Israel has not replied to our outstretched hand”. At the same time, he recognised that “for the past four months, we have been living an experience without precedent” with the arrival of Hamas to power, “a government whose programme is not in line with mine”. He said he has called for this programme to come into line with the commitments that have been taken and announced that “soon, national dialogue will begin” in Palestine, in the hope that it will “make adjustments”. “This government deserves a chance to adjust to reality”, the Palestinian President stressed. “Cutting off our lifeline in difficult circumstances will only make the situation worse”, Mr Abbas said, thanking the Quartet from the bottom of his heart for having decided to seek ways to restore aid to the Palestinian people (see EUROPE 9189 and 9192 on the subject of EU Council deliberations). Again to plenary applause, President Abbas called on Israel to “pay the full amount of customs duties and taxes due to the Palestinians”.
President Abbas ended his speech by calling on Israel to sit at the negotiating table to conclude an “agreement marking the end of this unending conflict”. He exclaimed that, when he had congratulated Prime Minister Olmert, he had assured him of “our immediate willingness to resume peace negotiations”, stressing that “this is what the whole world wants”. Mr Abbas went on to regret that the Israeli government asserts it does not have a “Palestinian interlocutor”, as it had had in the past to avoid negotiating directly. Also, Israeli unilateral projects compromise any chance of reaching a solution for peace founded on two States, deplored Mr Abbas, expressing his concern for the intention expressed by the Olmert government to “trace out the final frontiers of the Hebrew State to the detriment of the Palestinian territories”, and to proceed to “annexing vast tracts of Palestinian territory to make them into dispersed islets, without water sources”.
President Borrell welcomed President Abbas as “the only player able to speak with all interlocutors”, and a man who has shown his resolve for peace and dialogue since the seventies. “No-one can doubt your commitment in favour of peace”, Mr Borrell told him, noting, moreover, that “the international community is beginning to realise the dangers that could be entailed by breaking off aid to the Palestinian people”.
“The Palestinian people will be facing a humanitarian disaster if aid is cut off”, Mahmoud Abbas told the press. The risk of not being able to pay the 160,000 civil service employees (and indirectly the million people who depend on them) would bring the life of the country to a state of “paralysis” and could “result in chaos, the consequences of which we cannot foresee”, he said, sounding alarm bells. “Do not let the Palestinian people get to that stage”, he implored. He stressed that time, aid and support are needed and said that “if the EU raises its voice, this will certainly have an influence” when it comes to the question of Israeli levies. Mr Abbas also reassured that democracy would be maintained in the territories. “We have no other choice than democracy”, as “we hope to create a modern, contemporary Authority that is accepted in the concert of nations”, he said.